champions

Barça face BATE Borisov this Wednesday at Camp Nou at 8.45pm CET in the knowledge that a win against the side from Belarus could put them through to the knock out stages for the 12th season in a row should AS Roma fail to beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the other Group E fixture. The Belarusians are currently in third place in the group on 3 points, one behind second placed Bayer and so still have hope of making it to the last 16 themselves. Luis Enrique is focused on just one objective for side at Camp Nou: "The goal is to qualify, and do it as first in the group. The groups are competitive, and anything can happen. But as the defending champions we must send a message that we are ready.” Javier Mascherano will be available even though he is currently one match into a two game domestic ban in La Liga, and Andrés Iniesta, recently recovered from injury, should be in the squad as well. 

Breaking down BATE Borisov proved to be as tricky as Luis Enrique had suggested before the game. The first fifteen minutes were a monologue in the BATE half, the visitors playing with confidence and generating chance after chance. All that changed in practically the first move after the break. Rakitic, who stepped in to take Sergi Roberto's place, sent a trademark long-range strike unstoppably into the top left corner of the BATE net. It wouldn’t be long before he was celebrating his second. In the 64th minute he received an exquisite assist from Neymar and cheekily tipped it over BATE keeper Chernik to extend his team’s lead. Three points that leave them in a strong position at the top of Group E with seven points, three clear of second placed Bayer Leverkusen.

The Catalans are in Belarus for their third UEFA Champions League match in Group E, tonight against BATE Borisov. A total of 20 players have made the journey while the injured Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Rafinha stay at home, as do Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal due to the FIFA suspension. Speaking to the press shortly after arriving in Belarus, Barça boss Luis Enrique commented that the club is "in one of the toughest groups and we are not expecting it to be easy". On the absence of Leo Messi, he added that the team "works as unit" and "it's not a question of another player taking over his role." The Catalans currently top the table with four points from the first two fixtures. Barça's Champions League title defence began with a 1-1 draw at AS Roma. That was followed by a 2-1 defeat of Bayer Leverkusen at the Camp Nou.

The FC Barcelona vice president, Jordi Mestres assured that the Club "is not happy at all" with the UEFA sanction for the presence of Catalan Independence flags at Camp Nou during the Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen. "We will never tell our members and fans to not express their opinion" Mestre commented to the media. "We will appeal against the decision, and if necessary, we will take legal advice" stated Mestres, at his arrival in Minsk this Tuesday, where FC Barcelona has a duel against BATE Borisov. This is not the first time that UEFA fines FC Barcelona for showing pro-independence flags during a match; at the Champions League final on the 6 June the club was sanctioned for the same reason.

FC Barcelona will begin the defence of their title in Group E following the draw on Thursday in Monaco. Luis Enrique's team will begin the road to Milan - the venue for this season's final - and their first challenge will be against the sides from Germany, Italy and Belarus in the group stages. Barça have met Bayer three times in the Champions League era. AS Roma was the rival of the Joan Gamper trophy a few weeks ago, while BATE Borisov is former Barça man Aleksander Hleb’ team.

Pedro Rodríguez scored FC Barcelona’s fifth goal of the evening in the 115th minute as Champions League titleholders FC Barcelona hung on late in an exhilarating 5–4 extra-time triumph over a newly revamped Sevilla, the winners of last year’s Europa League, in the 2015 UEFA Super Cup Final on Tuesday night in Tbilisi, Georgia. Lionel Messi scored two free kick goals in the first half to erase an early 1–0 deficit and Rafinha, filling in superbly for the absent Neymar, started and scored to put Barça up 3–1 a minute before halftime. Messi was named man of the match. "We are delighted to start the season with this win, but it was tough," he said following the game. Only two more titles — this month’s Spanish Super Cup and this fall’s FIFA Club World Cup — stand between the Catalans and an unprecedented second sextuple. It is also FC Barcelona’s fifth UEFA Super Cup title, tying them with AC Milan for tops all-time.

59 days after the celebrations for the historic treble achieved by the blaugranes last season, Camp Nou comes back to life after a summer hiatus with the visit of Italian side AS Roma for the traditional pre-season opening game at the stadium, the Joan Gamper Trophy. The clash with the Serie A club will mark the end of a pre-season which has taken Barça to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC and Florence. The first team will be presented to the fans before the game and a party atmosphere is guaranteed in the final test for Luis Enrique’s squad ahead of their attempt to claim the European and Spanish Super Cups. With the return of Claudio Bravo to training on Monday, Luis Enrique now has his entire first team squad back after the summer break, although Arda Turan and Douglas continue their respective recoveries from injury.

Sluggish start condemns Catalans in last match in 2015 International Champions Cup. Suárez gets one back after early Bernardeschi double but Barça can´t complete comeback.FC Barcelona had full control of the last 79 minutes in their fourth and final game of the preseason International Champions Cup on Sunday night but it wasn’t enough to overcome two early goals from Federico Bernardeschi, as hosts Fiorentina claimed a 2–1 victory. Despite the early goals FC Barcelona clearly dominated the rest of the match, and would have drawn even, or taken the lead, if they had been able to finish with a bit more precision. Fiorentina goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu was key as well, making a bevy of nice saves throughout the evening.

Goals from Suárez and Sandro give Barça a 2-2 draw over 90 minutes against Chelsea, but the shoot out does not go the Catalans’ way (4-2). FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC put on a spectacular show of football on Tuesday night at FedExField just outside Washington DC in a friendly clash between European giants that had to be decided on penalty kicks. With the score tied at two after 90 minutes of play, Chelsea aced all four of their spot kicks to emerge with a victory in both teams’ final game on United States soil in the 2015 International Champions Cup. Both sides will play one final game in the summer tournament back in Europe. For Barça, the defeat wraps up a US tour that included a first-game win over the Los Angeles Galaxy followed by consecutive losses to Manchester United and Chelsea. Despite the less-than-optimum results, Barça head coach Luis Enrique has made it clear that the purpose of the preseason is to get his team in shape for the games that count.

UEFA's Disciplinary Committee has decided to issue FC Barcelona, the current champions of Europe, with a €30,000 fine due to the Catalan independence flags displayed and the songs sung by its supporters during May's Champions League final in Berlin. Despite UEFA representatives present at the final having praised the "excellent behaviour" of the Catalan supporters during the game in their official report, the Disciplinary Committee acted after a complaint was filed at a later stage by a Ukrainian lawyer based on the TV broadcast. UEFA condemns "the use of gestures, words […] to transmit any message that is not fit for a sports event, particularly messages that are of a political, ideological, religious, offensive or provocative nature" in its Disciplinary Regulations.

Confident FC Barcelona defeat the MLS champions with goals from Luis Suárez and Sergi Roberto. FC Barcelona got their preseason off to a fine start with a 2-1 victory against MLS champions Los Angeles Galaxy at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena in front of an astonishing crowd of 93,226. Goals from Luis Suárez and Sergi Roberto put the Catalans well in command, and Tommy Meyer’s 92nd minute header merely served as late consolation for the Californian outfit. There was a carnival atmosphere in the stands, but the football in the first 45 minutes did not always rise to the occasions. Barça were still trying to get into their rhythm in their first game after the summer break against a side that is already deep into its own season. But the Galaxy limited most of their efforts to frustrating the Catalan game-plan. 

The Catalans are in California for the first friendly of the 2015/16 preseason in their debut appearance in the International Champions Cup. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California is the venue for FC Barcelona’s first match of the 2015/16 preseason, which kicks off at 8.00pm on Tuesday local time and early Wednesday morning back in Barcelona at 5.00am CET. A crowd of over 90,000 is expected to watch as the Catalans face current Major League Soccer (MLS) champions Los Angeles Galaxy in the first of their four games in the International Champions Cup. Three of those games are being played in the USA. After Galaxy, Barça will take on Manchester United on Saturday and Chelsea on Tuesday.

At around 2.00pm local time on Sunday afternoon (11.00pm CET) Barça landed at Los Angeles airport following a twelve hour direct flight from Barcelona. The blaugranes had left at 11.00am CET for the United States after a week of training prior to their pre-season tour across the Atlantic. California welcomed FC Barcelona with cloudy skies but warm temperatures with Los Angeles being the first of three US cities that Barça will visit during their stay. In the City of Angels, the team checked into the plush Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey. Luis Enrique and Andrés Iniesta gave the team's first press conference of the tour at the hotel, followed by Barça's first training session at the StubHub Center in Carson.

Barça complete historic second treble with convincing victory in Berlin.FC Barcelona rode goals from Ivan Rakitic and Luis Suárez, and an injury-time clincher by Neymar Jr to claim the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League title on Saturday night at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany. The victory gives FC Barcelona their fourth Champions League title in the last 10 years — their fifth in team history — and an unprecedented second treble, adding a layer of reinforced concrete to the Catalans' already rock-solid status as a dynasty for the ages.

Messi (2) and Neymar score as FC Barcelona claim 27th cup title and move one step closer to historic treble. Two down, one to go. FC Barcelona confidently disposed of Athletic Bilbao 3-1 in Saturday’s Spanish Cup Final at the Camp Nou and can claim a historic treble if they can repeat the trick against Juventus in Berlin next Saturday. Messi scored the second and third, with Neymar getting the one in between, and Williams’ late header was little more than some consolation for Athletic’s swatches of travelling supporters.